Vulgar words in History of English Humour, Vol. 1 - With an Introduction upon Ancient Humour (Page 1)

This book at a glance

ass x 20
blockhead x 1
buffoon x 8
country bumpkin x 2
damn x 1
            
jackass x 1
make love x 1
            

Page 1

~   ~   ~   Sentence 180   ~   ~   ~

Wolfius relates "that a country bumpkin, called Brunsellius, by chance seeing a woman asleep at a sermon fall off her seat, was so taken that he laughed for three days, which weakened him so that he continued for a long time afterwards in an infirm state."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 269   ~   ~   ~

On another occasion he allowed himself to be bound with cords, and thus apparently delivered powerless into the hands of his enemies; he then broke his bonds "like flax that was burnt with fire," and taking the _jaw-bone of an ass_, which he found, slew a thousand men with it.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 270   ~   ~   ~

His account of this massacre shows that he regarded it in a humorous light: "With the jaw-bone of an ass heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass I have slain a thousand men."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 343   ~   ~   ~

In xi, 557, Ajax retreating slowly from the Trojans is compared to an ass who has gone to feed in a field, and whom the boys find great difficulty in driving out, "though they belabour him well with cudgels."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 353   ~   ~   ~

No man's fleetness would count for anything, and no one since Hercules would seem to have been stronger than the elephant or lion; the bull would carry off the crown in striking, and the ass in kicking, and history would record that an ass conquered men in wrestling and boxing."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 385   ~   ~   ~

This feeling gained ground so much afterwards that Lucian makes Æsop act the part of a buffoon in "The Isles of the Blessed."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 646   ~   ~   ~

Philemon, who is said to have died from a fit of laughter caused by seeing an ass eat figs, wrote much that was objectionable; and Diphilus was probably little better.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 737   ~   ~   ~

Chrysippus, who was not only a philosopher, but a man of humour--a union we are not surprised to find common at that date--and who is said, perhaps with equal truth, to have died like Philemon in a fit of laughter, on seeing an ass eat figs off a silver plate--mentions a genius of this kind, one Pantaleon, who, when at the point of death told each of his sons separately that he confided to him alone the place where he had buried his gold.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 769   ~   ~   ~

This means, we are told, that when Simonides was at Carthea he used to train choruses, and there was an ass to fetch water for them.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 958   ~   ~   ~

But we may feel sure he did not keep this dry and profitable end always in view, for he wrote a jest-book, and was nick-named by his enemies "Scurra Consularis,"[21] the consular buffoon.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 960   ~   ~   ~

We should not be inclined to accuse a man of that, who tells us that "a regard to proper times, moderation and forbearance in jesting, and a limitation in the number of jokes, will distinguish the orator from the buffoon;" who says that "indelicacy is a disgrace, not only to the forum, but to any company of well-bred people," and that neither great vice nor great misery is a subject for ridicule.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,040   ~   ~   ~

In his dying state he was daily carried about the streets of Cumæ, and received his friends, made love verses and humorous epigrams, and endeavoured to withdraw his thoughts from the sad reality by indulging in all kinds of amusing caprices.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,219   ~   ~   ~

At any rate, his "Golden Ass" seems taken from the work by that author.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,226   ~   ~   ~

In the "Golden Ass," Apuleius gravely supposes that transformations take place between men and the lower animals.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,249   ~   ~   ~

A buffoon, or parasite, who sat among the guests, exclaims "Give him a cup of wine," and he was taught various tricks.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,547   ~   ~   ~

The work is called the Brunellus--the name of an ass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,625   ~   ~   ~

"Reuchlin has written a defence of himself against Gratius, in which he calls him an ass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,629   ~   ~   ~

Some profane men say that the coat of our Lord at Treves is not genuine, but only an old rag; he does not believe there is now any hair of the Virgin in the world; and the preaching friars who sell indulgences are only a set of buffoons who deceive old apple-women.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,735   ~   ~   ~

We can also, perhaps, understand how the conflicts between the parish priests and monks led them sometimes to caricature each other in the grotesque heads of corbels and gargoyles; nor does it surprise us that Luther, indignant and rude, should portray the Pope to the public under the form of a jackass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,737   ~   ~   ~

In the scriptural ornamentation of the thirteenth century in Strasburg Cathedral, there was the representation of a funeral performed by animals--a hare carried the taper, a wolf the cross, and a bear the holy water--while in another place a stag was celebrating mass, and an ass reading the gospel.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,740   ~   ~   ~

At Boston Church we find a fox in a cope and episcopal vestments, seated on a throne, and holding a pastoral staff, while on the right is an ass holding a book for the bishop to read.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,804   ~   ~   ~

Balaam, armed with a tremendous pair of spurs, rode a wooden ass, in which a man was enclosed.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,828   ~   ~   ~

In Roman times they were little more than buffoons,[49] and not very different from the mediæval fools.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,829   ~   ~   ~

They seem to have received nicknames, and Petronius describes a very low buffoon performing antics in a myrtle robe with a belt round his waist.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,140   ~   ~   ~

Empaled himself to keep them out, not in, Can sow, and dares trust corn where they've been; Can use his horse, goat, wolf, and every beast, And is not ass himself to all the rest."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,180   ~   ~   ~

_Mr. Perkins, the Divine._ "He would pronounce the word Damn with such an emphasis, as left a doleful echo in his auditor's ears a good while after."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,330   ~   ~   ~

here's none that fears The wagging of an ass's ears, Although a wolfish case he wears.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,374   ~   ~   ~

If you've no money you're an ass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,408   ~   ~   ~

_Thomas._ You are an ass, a twirepipe, A Jeffery John Bo-peep!

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,515   ~   ~   ~

This was not reached in Ben Jonson's time, but fools and their artifices are by him discarded for something more natural, for country bumpkins and servants, ludicrous in their stupidity, knavery and drunkenness.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,861   ~   ~   ~

_Nov._ Prithee, my lord, be not an ass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 3,175   ~   ~   ~

this blockhead has rous'd me from the prettiest entertainment in the world (_Aside_).

~   ~   ~   Sentence 3,706   ~   ~   ~

[49] Lucian makes the father of Cleanthis congratulate himself on having obtained a buffoon for his son's wedding feast.

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